NEW DELHI, Jan 11: Non Resident Indians (NRIs) living in 10 countries will soon be able to access the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) using their international mobile numbers without having to depend on their India phone number.
The countries are Singapore, the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates. According to the National Payments Corporation of India, accounts like NRE/NRO (Non Resident External and Non-resident Ordinary) with international mobile numbers can transact using UPI.
The Payments Corporation has given partner banks time till April 30th to comply with the directions. An NRE account helps NRIs transfer foreign earnings to India, while an NRO account helps them manage the income earned in India.
The only conditions are that banks ensure such accounts are allowed according to the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) regulations, follow the guidelines of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and guard against money laundering or terror financing.
A cabinet committee headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday approved a ₹ 2,600 crore scheme for promoting RuPay debit cards and low-value BHIM-UPI transactions. The big UPI move will help international students, family living abroad and local businesses, said officials.
Under the scheme, banks will be provided financial incentives for promoting transactions using RuPay and UPI. “India’s strides in digital payments will be further strengthened by today’s Cabinet decision regarding promotion of RuPay Debit Cards and BHIM-UPI transactions,” Modi said in a tweet. There has been a massive jump in UPI transactions in the last six years. In December, last year, UPI transactions worth over ₹ 12 lakh crore took place, official sources said.
(Manas Dasgupta)